Belcanto actually started with a young cellist visiting the Thomastik-Infeld R&D department. Her hands were all swollen and red because of her allergy to nickel. Desperately she had been looking for cello string that didn't contain nickel, after all attempts to cure her allergy had failed. Up until that day, nickel was believed to be the only material for cello strings that could produce the characteristic cello sound.
In the Thomastik-Infeld R&D, that's actually how a lot of success stories begin - an artist stepping in with a problem, an idea or a suggestion. This time the cellist's request resulted few year later in Belcanto and, as international reactions show, it has become far more than the solution for allergic cellists ...Specs
The new string concept for Cello is based on a modern sound. A and D string have a steelcore, G and C string have a rope core. The C string has a tungsten layer to beef up the volume. There are two sets available: BELCANTO, which is a bright, clear, optimal balanced sounding set and BELCANTO GOLD, which is transparent, rich, and warm in timbre. The individual string tensions in both sets are harmonized to allow combinations of strings to fine-tune the instrument. The strings have excellent response and stay in tune very quickly. A nice feature about BELCANTO GOLD is the fact that the strings are 100 % nickel-free and therefore suitable for players having problems with allergic reactions.